The invention relates to medical imaging systems for viewing anatomical structures and functions of a patient and, more particularly, to a multi-planar imaging system that increases the throughput of a multi-detector imaging system.
Nuclear imaging systems generally utilize a detector positioned about a patient for the purpose of collecting data regarding anatomical structures and bodily functions of the patient. Each detector is capable of collecting data for a single patient at any given moment. As a result, the number of patients that may utilize the nuclear imaging system within a given amount of time is limited.
Nuclear imaging systems have been developed to reduce the amount of time required to perform a given procedure. One such development has been a dual-imaging system, which utilizes two detectors that operate simultaneously. By utilizing two detectors to collect the information that was previously collected by a single detector, the amount of time a procedure requires is reduced.
Some procedures, such as renal, GI bleed, hepatobiliary, gallbladder, thyroid, and the like, however, only use a single detector. When a dual-imaging system is utilized to perform one of these procedures, one of the detectors is unused. As a result, a valuable resource, i.e., a detector, is idle for the entire length of time that the procedure requires.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and a system to provide nuclear imaging in an efficient manner that reduces the length of time that a resource remains idle.
The invention comprises a system and method for multi-planar imaging using a plurality of detectors coupled to an electronic controller and data acquisition system. The electronic controller and data acquisition system is capable of configuring the plurality of detectors in at least two modes. A first mode configures the plurality of detectors to collect image data for a single procedure of a single patient. A second mode configures the plurality of detectors to collect image data of a plurality of patients simultaneously.